Wednesday, October 13, 2010

A Little Kosher Asian Italian Fusion- Pizza!

One of my favorite pizzas from my childhood was from Pizzicatto in Portland, Oregon. They have some great pizza types, and my favorite was the Peanut Chicken Pizza, a sort of Thai, always amazing dish. I thought I would do my own take on this, because I have a very specific way of doing pizza, and I was hoping to share it to the world, at least to the people who read this blog!

I like an extra sweetness to my pizza so I always caramelize an onion to go along with the sauce under my cheese and toppings. Making your own sauce is also a good idea, as cans of tomato sauce are so much cheaper and easier to find kosher than other marinaras. I like to put 2 parts Basil, 1 part thyme, 1 part oregeno, along with some sugar and salt into a pot with a can of tomato sauce along with some paste depending on how much I am making. Test your own recipe and you can make exactly what you want in a matter of a few minutes for simple pasta or pizza heaven.

Jamie was a little tired of Asian lately, so I have been making some Pizzas and Pastas and soups for her, but I thought that it would be nice to get back into it with a mixture of both. Instead of peanut chicken I am switching it up and making Almond Chicken Pizza


Heres how you make the Almond Sauce for your veggie chicken!

1/2 cup Almond Butter
3/4 cup Boiling water
2 tbsp Soy Sauce or Terriyaki
Lime Juice
1 tsp Minced Ginger

Boil the water and add the soy sauce, Lime Juice and Ginger.  After mixing together add almond butter and constantly stir until you have a nice thick paste.

Now making the pizza is fairly easy; find a dough recipe you like online or buy some dough in the super market. If you want a more artisan dough - use Peter Reinhardt's recipe here, he is the bread master, and his cookbook, The Bread Baker's Apprentice is a must buy for those who are more interested in bread baking.

Make two batches of the sauce so you can mix one with your back of Morningstar chicken strips and have some for dipping. At the end of making the bag of strips, add one of the sauce batches and sautee until the strips begin to burn a little.

Carmelize the onions quickly by sauteeing one onion in 2 tbsp butter. After 2 minutes add a tsp of Salt and a Tbsp of Sugar. Mix ingredients and let sit for five minutes until soft and nice.

Stretch the dough, add the sauce, onions and cover with your cheese. After this add the chicken and any other toppings you might like.

Check it.

Spicy Sesame Tofu, Korean style.

This is a lovely little diddy I put together to go along with the bibimbap meal. Tofu is called dubui in Korean, and is a prominent component in Korean cuisine.


This is a super quick dish that requires only 1 minute on each side of the tofu to get some color, and then garnishing with the sauce, green onion and sesame seeds.

1 lb Tofu, Soft 
1 Green onion (scallion)


Sauce Recipe
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 clove minced Garlic
1 tsp Sriracha or other hot sauce
1 tsp water
1 tsp sugar
1 spring onion


First heat pan, add 1 tbsp oil, heat 1 inch blocks of tofu until it has color, 1 minute on high for each side.


Remove from heat and garnish with sauce, leave to cool and eat when hot or room temperature.



What a long time it has been...so I want to come back with a BI BIM BAP!

I know its been many months, too much time between posts. But lets get right back into it, and bring back some good oldies that have been sitting on the camera for all that time.

I want to take my first trip into Asian food with you because it has long been a favorite of mine. I remember eating with my father at both Korean grills where we would grill our own meat, as well as at classic Korean restaurants that would start with a plethora of Banchan, which are the entire collection of Korean salads.

If you are interested in the most famous of Korean foods, Kim Chee, DON'T EAT IT! It has lots of shrimp for its flavoring and pickling process, and I will include a vegetarian kim chee for you to make at home in a little bit.



But onto our dish of the evening. Bibimbop literally means "mixed rice bowl," and as all Asian cuisines do, it varies greatly all over Korea how it is eaten. The variation we are going to make includes VeggieBeef Strips, Fried egg (as opposed to raw), carrots, sprouts, and bok choy (not traditional).

Served over rice, these various components should hold their own flavor and be a special component of the dish. For the bok choy recipe, I used my earlier cooking method, but all of the other recipes are listed below, notice that they are super simple.  This dish is incredibly easy, and a true crowd pleaser. One thing that is nice about the recipe is that it works to have the vegetables at room temperature (as long as the rice is hot), so you can make them ahead and finish your protein right before dinner.

Beef Recipe
8 oz beef or veggie beef
2 tsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Garlic
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Sugar
1/2 Tsp Black Pepper


Combine ingredients and do a quick sear on your beef, 3 minutes. Don't put extra oil in pan.

Carrot Recipe
1 tbsp Vegetable Oil
2 medium carrots, grated
1/2 tsp Salt


Sautee carrots for 3 minutes until a little soft, remove and add salt

Mushroom Recipe
1 tbsp Vegetable oil
10 Shitake Mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Salt


Sautee garlic for 30 seconds until slightly fragrant, add mushrooms and sautee until slightly brown and beginning to soften, about 3 minutes. Remove and add salt.

Sprouts Recipe
1 tsp Vegetable oil
1 cup Mung Bean Sprouts
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp salt
Sautee sprouts for 2 minutes, remove and add sesame oil and salt.





For the eggs, you can either make egg strips from an Asian style egg ommlette. I prefer frying them and getting a nice yolk all over your rice. Enjoy!





Once you have completed everything, arrange it beautifully. Here is a failed fried egg that had to become scrambled.